China to spend big improving forest coverage

BEIJING - The State Forestry Administration said on Wednesday that the central government will spend 212.9 billion yuan ($34.3 billion) by 2020 to fund forestry projects as part of efforts to improve the country's environment.

The money will be used to foster 21.67 million hectares of forestry and increase China's forest coverage rate by 4.1 percent by 2020, the ministry said.

China created 6.01 million hectares of forested areas in 2012, and projects aimed at tackling sandstorm problems in Beijing and its neighboring Tianjin Municipality helped foster 537,000 hectares of green land last year, according to China's National Afforestation Committee.

China's forest coverage totaled 195 million hectares, or 20.36 percent of the country's total area, as of the end of 2008.